I hope the new year brings us happiness and health. That’s all I want. The rest is easier when we have those.

See you next year with more of my exciting blogging.

The above image that I stole from Creating Passionate Users’ post suggesting not waiting for the muse to get work done, perfectly illustrates the situation.

It is hard to deny that there are times that I wait for the muse to come to start getting work done. The waiting game gets worse when there are lots of things to get done and the stress is trying to kill the creativity. However, that stubborn muse insist on not coming at those times. It just does not come by itself without any real invitation and turns out waiting is not a real invitation.

Creating Passionate Users’ post refers to the concept of constraint-driven creativity and points out that existence of a time constraint may not allow for waiting for the muse to come. This way of thinking and putting constraints on the work that needs to be get done is said to help creativity. This is a concept that I was not aware of before and I will be reading more about it. I was referred to a potentially very good article about innovation and constraints from the comments of constraint-driven creativity post which I will definitely read later.

If I go back to not waiting for the muse topic, my favorite part in that post was the following:

Yet another benefit of constraint-driven creativity is that you don’t have time to wait for the muse to show up. And as film critic Roger Ebert told an audience of would-be filmmakers and musicians, “The muse never shows up at the beginning.” You have to start doing something and trust the muse will follow, not the other way ’round.

This is so true that once you get yourself into the flow of the work, you forget about the muse. At that point, it has either already come or it is something like Santa Claus.

Technorati Tags: constraint driven creativity, don’t wait for the muse

[tags] creativity, productivity, getting things done[/tags]

If you are curios, here is a link to some of his works available on Amazon. I have read and enjoyed Snow, My Name is Red, The New Life that are on that list. The New Life must be the first work of his that I have read. I was currently reading Istanbul: Memories and the City.

[tags] news, nobel prize, literature, orhan pamuk[/tags]

Do you want to watch live when a Bald Eagle is giving birth? Well, you can. Looks like Hornby Island, British Columbia, Canada is big on eagles (I had no idea) and they installed Eagle cam which broadcasts from a bald eagle’s nest as she is very close to giving birth. The big day is the 26th of April.

When you watch the live broadcast you can hear background noises from time to time. Looks like there were some people who were concerned that would disturb the eagle in some way. There is even a news item clarifying this point:

Hearing Background Noise!
The eagles nest is placed on private property, where the owners sometimes do yard work which can make some noise. The eagles are safe and are not bothered by this background noise. Thank you for your inquires!

Watch the Eagle cam live at Hancock Wildlife Channel.

[tags]wildlife, eagle, random_stuff[/tags]

Technorati Tags: bald eagle, hancock wildlife channel, wild life, Hornby Island

The above image says it all. It is hot. I like it except for the fact that I have to watch this weather from inside. I am sure when I have some more time to enjoy life we will get rain, storms and below average temperatures

Technorati Tags: nashville, weather

[tags]random_stuff, nashville[/tags]

Looks like today’s theme is city news. I read with great joy that Istanbul was recommended as the European Cultural Capital for 2010 by an independent panel. The EU press release points that Essen and P?cs were also recommended along with Istanbul. Istanbul was competing against Kiev as the last non-EU candidate for 2010. As I understand Istanbul will be the last non-EU cultural capital since EU has decided to end the tradition of including non-EU countries in the cultural program. According to the press release, Istanbul set its theme as “Istanbul: City of the Four Elements” – a bridge between Europe and the East. The press release also mentions that the decision will be taken by the Culture Council in the second hald of 2006 under the Finnish presidency.

This comes as great news for Turkey, of course. As BBC points out “the significance of the choice is more than cultural”. The chairman of the selection panel, Sir Jeremy Isaacs said the Istanbul’s bid had been well prepared and highly effective. He also mentioned that the application had not began with either the Turkish government or with the Istanbul city government but with public-spirited citizens. Sir Isaacs also said that the advice presented by the jury was not political but that choices may have political implications.

Technorati Tags: Istanbul, EU, european cultural capital, turkey

[tags]Turkey, Istanbul, EU[/tags]

I read elsewhere (in Turkish) that Istanbul is listed in lower hundreds. The whole report can be reached from here, if you are willing to pay $360.

Technorati Tags: best place to live, zurich, geneva, istanbul

[tags]random_stuff, global[/tags]

We are in March now February felt even shorter than it is. March will be a very busy and travel intensive month for me. I am going to be away from home for a total of 18 days this month. I am already in Chicago at the moment for two days including today. I will be in Geneva, Switzerland to visit CERN again for the project that I am working on from March 8th to 16th and will be in Postdam, Germany from March 25th to 31st for the System Testing and Validation Workshop which is held in conjuction with the ECBS Conference. I will be presenting a paper there. In the meantime, I should be able to finish my area paper before the mad month of March ends.

Finally, Hande will be taking the Phd preliminary exam on March 15th.

I just hope that everything will turn out fine in March for us.

CERN, ECBS, System Test and Validation, conference